Massacres and executions: what are we hearing from inside Iran? – The Latest

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0:30Transcription by CastingWords to get worse. Why are people so willing to put themselves on the line? Because they know this is the end. They need a better future. There is more horror in Iran as the regime continues its brutal crackdown with targeted executions and hospitals inundated with thousands injured. From the Guardians today in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hoff. I'm joined by Deeper Parent, an independent journalist who's been covering this unrest for Murath, thanks so much for joining us down the line deeper. So you've spent the last couple of weeks speaking to people from Iran, right, including doctors who've been talking to you about the state in hospitals, particularly in the last few days as the regime has really cranked up its brutal crackdown.

1:19Tell me about the types of injury that medics are telling you that they're treating? So Lucy, first of all, thank you for having me. And yesterday, we published a piece on the messages we received, also directly from inside the country, thanks to Starlink access that doctors had. Just in the capital, one of the ophthalmologists, he said that he's recorded at least minimum 400 cases of serious eye injuries, including removal of eyes. And so it shows that there's been widespread blinding of protesters. That's horrifying. Also, in your reporting, the situation of hospitals overflowing, patients being treated on the floor and security services entering into hospitals to identify and pull out people that they believe have been taking part in the demonstrations.

2:13And what we're hearing, I mean, there is a deliberate nature to those injuries, isn't there? this is targeted executions, people being shot out at close range. One of the few people to have been publicly identified is the 23-year-old student Robina Aminian. Her family have been speaking to you, right? Yes. So I interviewed her aunt and uncle who are based in Norway. Each time she was trying to share her thoughts, she was breaking down. And it was incredibly hard. And I could really understand how difficult it is for the diaspora who are learning of the deaths of their family members with a delay.

2:52So Rubina's family in particular, the relatives had to travel to the border of Iraq to get enough connectivity to the Internet to tell the family abroad that she was killed. And the circumstances of her death, which are horrific, her mother, Amini, drove from Karman Shah, which is in Western Iran, to Tehran. And in the morgue, the mother, as quoted by her sister, Robina's aunt, she said that I've seen almost everybody among hundreds of bodies are all young people, teenagers, 16, 17 years old. And she really tried hard to get to her daughter's body, but she couldn't. And finally, when they were able to, they were not handing over the body to the family.

3:36So the aunt really, I don't know how she managed to finish the sentence, but she told me that the mother leaned in to hug her daughter and she just grabbed her in her arms and just ran and stole her own daughter's body and drove six, seven hours again back to Karbanshah. They had to bury her, dig the ground themselves and bury her by the road because they were refused a funeral ceremony and a mourning ceremony. And the family had to really just do everything on their own. And they are now under house arrest. It's the last thing we know. And another devastating detail, I really want to mention this, is that based on the last conversation Robina's aunt had with her sister, Robina's mother said that because she was in her lap in the car, Robina's blood was still on her clothes and she hadn't changed her clothes.

4:29So it's really just this one story is so devastating. And there are thousands like this. Yeah, thousands. And that is just heartbreaking to hear and must be heartbreaking for you to be reporting on. I mean, I suppose from your perspective, you're not based in Iran, but you're speaking or trying to speak to people who are still in the country. Obviously, there has been a blackout since last Thursday. There is some, as you mentioned earlier, some Starlink access, but the regime has been quite successful in blocking that access. Right. So people are traveling to the border by the sounds of things.

5:02But also if they can access that Starlink, they're managing to get information to you and to other people around the world. So the first few days, it was incredibly difficult, but I was able to get messages until around six o 'clock in the morning, early Friday morning. But then after six o 'clock in the morning, it was just total silence. And from what I heard through Starlink messages directly sent to me, and I've read these messages, they're horrific, because Friday seems to be one of the most deadliest days, which was the first day of the blackout. One of the protesters who sent me a message said that he's seen in just one location in a neighborhood in Tehran, hundreds of bodies.

5:40and less than 24 hours later it was reported that thousands are estimated to be dead, to be killed at the hands of the regime's forces. The official estimates of human rights organisation is around 2 ,000 but that's expected to be a kind of base level of what the true number might be. Some even saying it could be as high as 20 ,000. Irfan Sultani is tragically the first person to be named for public execution by the regime, something that is expected to happen today. I know you've been talking to his family deeper. What do you know about the status of that case? One of the points that really worries me is that even if he has been executed, we don't know yet, unfortunately, because usually the pattern is that most of the executions are done on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as far as I know.

6:32And they're done at dawn, at sunrise, before the morning prayers, around the morning prayers. And we were awake until about four or five in the morning and scared that we would receive the news. But unfortunately, we haven't been able to. And I did interview the spokesperson of Hengo. It's a Kurdish human rights organization based in Norway. They are directly in touch with the family. They told me that last night the family was trying to get to the prison. I checked again this morning. They haven't heard from the family. So even if he has been executed and it has not been announced by the judiciary, then the family will have to send someone to the border of Iraq and have someone call and give this information.

7:13And meanwhile, I mean, the world looking on in horror and images of Alfa Santani's face everywhere when you open social media, when you look at the news websites. Donald Trump had previously warned of very strong actions if protesters are executed. despite those international threats and condemnation, not just from the United States, but from all around the world, including our own government here. The government seems to be, if anything, stepping up its crackdown. But nonetheless, protesters are still turning out despite that. So each time that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic says, these are not protesters, these are rioters, and then they moved on to calling them terrorists, That's an extremely dangerous comment because as far as I know, I've checked the latest statistics by US-based human rights activists in Iran.

8:06They have at least arrested 18 ,434 people, including 169 minors. So I know from covering Iran, they have a pattern when crackdowns like this happen where they don't allow legal counsel to these protesters. They do not allow the lawyers to access their files. And after sham trials, they're executed. I fear that these 18 ,000 people are at risk of execution because with the regime, you never know. And this protest has been very different from the rest. But it takes extraordinary courage and determination, doesn't it, to keep turning out to protest in spite of this incomprehensibly brutal response from the regime.

8:53Why is that? Why are people so willing to put themselves on the line in this way, especially the young? I mean, we've spoken about two young people amongst thousands. The courage is, they're not lacking courage because they know for a fact they want an end to the regime. They are tired. They see the world. They see people of their age outside, across the world, in many countries in the West. They have access to a lifestyle and freedom and rights that, unfortunately, these young people don't have. A lot of them want that for themselves. But also, apart from that, for families, even buying meat has become a luxury.

9:29I was speaking with Sara Rasooli. She's a cousin of a father of three, Ibrahim Yousefi. He was killed last week. She told me that he went on the streets because he wanted a better future for his three children, who are all minors. Uthihpa, it's a horrifying situation. Thank you so much for your reporting and for your time today. Thank you so much, Lucy. Thank you for having me.

9:55That's it for today. My thanks again to Deeper Parent and independent journalist. You can keep up with her reporting for The Guardian over at theguardian.com. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Latest, the new evening edition of Today in Focus. Today in Focus will be back with you as normal tomorrow morning, and we'll be back with you tomorrow night. This episode was presented by me, Lucy Hoff. The producers were Bryony Moore and Rory Simon. The lead producer was Zoe Hitch.

10:22This is The Guardian.